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White Noise Restores Energy at Work

October 18, 2011 By

Do you often feel completely drained before you reach the end of the day and struggle to finish your work on time? While you should look into medical reasons for low energy, sometimes the culprit is hidden in plain sight. Try these tips to reduce the amount of energy that is wasted by normally office situations and recover some of your lost productivity.

Try Using White Noise – It takes a great deal of energy and effort to concentrate in the midst of distractions and noise.  Most people lose up to two hours a day from interruptions and distractions at work. But a personal sound machine can help by covering unrelated conversations and surrounding office noise. Better yet would be office-wide sound masking that would benefit everyone. This will allow you to work with focused energy.

Limit Your Energy-Draining Tasks. Are you aware of specific tasks or certain people who drain you of energy and motivation faster than your normal work? Be deliberate about how you approach these tasks or people in your work day. Find the least stressful time of day for you, when you are not hungry or especially tired, and spend only 10 or 15 minutes dealing with this work.

Upgrade to Ergonomic Tools.  Ergonomic products are specifically designed to encourage a natural,  ergonomic posture where your muscles are at their lowest strain and and work is minimized. Start with a supportive, ergonomic chair that helps maintain good posture for long periods of time. With any chair, make sure your back has good support;  try adding portable lumbar support if your chair doesn’t provide enough.

Drink More Water.  If you wait until you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Because our bodies and brains are made up largely of water; even slight dehydration of less than 5% decreases our energy and productivity by more than 20%. A good place to start is with the general rule of daily drinking at least eight glasses of water.

Everyday we are bombarded with  distractions, interruptions and physical discomfort that quickly, and unnecessarily,  drains our energy and breaks our concentration. Consider using white noise to cover the office noise that continually interrupts you. And upgrade to a good ergonomic chair to improve your posture and relieve some of the energy-draining pain. Adjusting your office environment and habits can make a huge impact on your energy and productivity.

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Maximizing Productivity

September 28, 2010 By

Increasing productivity is a hot topic these days.  Since no one can magically make their work day longer (and who really wants to spend more time in the office anyway?!), every man and woman is trying to get more out of their 8 or 9 hours at work.  From cubicle dweller to office manager, maximizing productivity is a matter of survival.

Tips for Increasing Productivity

  • Try white noise, like this free white noise generator.  It’s a fact that office noise kills productivity, so covering it is your only defense sometimes.
  • Re-work your work space.  This is a multi-faceted.  First, clear away the clutter.  Throw away trash and file your papers.  Next, move all essential items so that they are within arm’s reach.  You want to avoid straining your arms, shoulders, wrists, and hands.  Finally, move your mouse in to be directly next to your keyboard. Your goal is to avoid straining yourself as you reach for your mouse, and you also want to be more productive-unnecessary reaching is a loss of time.
  • Consider upgrading to an ergonomic keyboard for efficiency. You might consider a left-handed keyboard or mini keyboard.  Both keyboards fit your wrists/hands better and move the number pad for faster typing.  The result is more efficient use.
  • Similarly, why not try an ergonomic mouse? Fingers can get tired after a ton of touch pad mousing.  Ergonomic mice are wonderful for customizing the work experience to your own needs.  When your mouse fits your hand, and as a result, your hand isn’t exhausted at the end of the day, you cant help but be more productive.
Just by re-working your desktop and trying a few new products, you can easily be more productive and get more out of your work day.
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You Don’t Know if You Don’t Ask

August 16, 2010 By

Any boss that is even halfway decent wants their workers to be able to work to their full potential and desires to help them reach that potential through any available means. Not only is that good for the people in the company, its also good for the company’s bottom line. People working to their full potential are not only more productive, but also happier and less likely to look elsewhere for work. Have you ever wondered how to help your employees in this area? What is keeping your workers from being more productive? Have you ever asked them? You won’t know if you don’t ask.

Instead of hiring a company masseuse, a few effective ergonomic adjustments could be made. (Although a masseuse would be nice....)

Some common reasons for lack of productivity are  distractions. In fact, studies have shown that distractions cause up to 2 hours a day of lost productivity which costs  companies $759 billion a year. So, one of the ways that would (hopefully) make a noticeable difference is to cut down on those distractions.

Ask your workers what is distracting them and then think of ways to help them overcome those. Is office noise and conversations constantly breaking their train of thought? Installing sound masking could help with that. Are constant emails and new email notifications a problem? Some software that minimizes that would help. Perhaps by the end of the day your employees shoulders and wrists are aching from sitting in front of the computer all day. A few ergonomic adjustments could go a long way in solving that and allowing them to focus on their working instead of tight muscles.

You won’t know how to implement effective solutions unless you know what the problem is. So, go ahead, ask your employees how you can help them work better and with less stress.

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De-Stressing Your Staff

July 13, 2010 By

Part of being a good manager is taking care of business…but not just the bottom line.  Increasing profitability is more than charts and graphs.  It’s more than showing your staff red numbers and black numbers with a star next to a goal.  It’s knowing your employees as people who are motivated by knowing that they are taken are of, too.

Taking Care of Your Employees

Sound Masking for Noise

Worker stress is all too common, and it doesn't just affect the employees.

Since noise pollution in the work place is becoming more and more common, why don’t you consider sound masking?  It is a well-known fact that workers are shockingly less productive in a loud environment than in a controlled one.  The result is a downhill trail of cause-and-effect issues:

  1. The office is loud…
  2. Workers focus on co-worker chatter…
  3. Less work gets done…
  4. Workers are frustrated and stressed by the end of the day…
  5. Weeks and months of stress lead to higher worker turn-over…
  6. Your business loses money twofold: less productivity and training new staff

Sound masking is an easy solution in which speakers that emit lo-level white noise are mounted directly within the ceiling tiles.  Highly effective in noise coverage, yet surprisingly quiet itself, sound masking increases productivity and decreases stress.

Ergonomic Adjustments

Another contributor to office stress is poor ergonomics.  Most workers do not make ergonomic adjustments to their work stations.  Yet, at the same time, millions of workers suffer unnecessarily from work related stress and injuries, such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  Finding money money in your budget to supply workers with ergonomic desks, keyboards, and mice is ideal.  However, just making your employees aware of good ergonomic practices is half the battle.

Reducing worker stress benefits everyone.  Why not give it a shot as you survey long-term goals?

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